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By: Deji Kuye on 07:07/comment : 0

VEXATIONS

Simi
stood in front of the butcher. She opened her handbag and began to scatter
things inside it. The butcher picked two knives and sharpened one with the
other. He took a big piece of meat and sliced it into three and began to cut
one into smaller pieces. Looking at Simi, he asked, “Madam, hope no problem?”
and she shook her head. A woman with a baby on her back came also to buy meat.
She was carrying a basket full of stuffs on her head. As the woman tried to
lift the basket, she staggered and struggled not to fall. Simi hastened to
remove the baby from her back before the women could reach the ground. The
woman selling pepper and seasonings, opposite the butcher also rushed to help
the fallen mother up on her feet. “Thank you all. God will not leave you. You
will not lose what you cherished most.”

“Next
time,” said the pepper seller, “ask someone to assist you.”

The
butcher packed Simi’s meat inside nylon and gave it to Simi. She paid for the
meat and took off. And baby’s mother continued to bargain for a piece of meat.

After Simi had left, after selling
meat to the baby’s mother the butcher, trying to find change for his customer
found that Simi had given him three thousand naira notes instead of two. “Ha,
woman yi o gba change,” he said. “O, well, she may come back,” baby’s mother responded.
“Only God know what was wrong with that madam,” the butcher said. As baby’s
mother was going, the butcher called her back to take her wallet. And she took
it. She turned to leave but the pepper seller stopped her. “Haba, mama,
agbalagba niyin ke. You’re an elder. Why did you lie?”

Baby’s
mother slapped the pepper seller and the two women started fighting. One woman
managed to remove the baby from her mother’s back. “Hey, in front of my shop?”
the butcher shouted and stopped them from fighting. The pepper seller had to
explain why she accused baby’s mother. “Boda Popo, this thief is not the owner
of the wallet. It belongs to the first woman who forgot to collect change.”

“That’s
a lie. It is my wallet.”

“No
problem, mama, you’re my customer. And she is my regular customer. Let’s check
your basket and your hand bag; if there’s no other wallet then it may be
yours.”

“No
way! I will not let you treat me like a thief.”

After
much reluctance, baby’s mother allowed them to search her basket, one wallet
was found inside. They asked her how much she had in the wallet but she refused
to tell them. Then they searched her bag and found a similar pink wallet.
Inside that wallet were different naira notes summed up to one thousand five
hundred. “That must be hers,” pepper seller said. Inside the other wallet were
twelve one-thousand-naira notes. No one judged baby’s mother. The wallets were
the same. She might not have known that the second one was not hers. “No, problem
ma, she’s my customer. I’ll keep it for her.”

Now,
baby’s mother looked at the women. She didn’t know who had removed the baby
from her back. And that person had taken off with the baby. “Mogbe o! Omo mi
da? Where is my child? Ha! Baba Luku, is this how you want to afflict me?” She
didn’t care about her basket, or wallet. Many people joined her to look for the
unknown person who had removed baby from the mother’s back and had taken the
baby away. They wouldn’t find that person. Baby’s mother would wail all over
the place. No one would find the baby. Baby’s mother said her husband will kill
her if she returned home without the baby. “She is our only child. “Yeh!
Okansoso! I was barren for thirty years. My husband’s family pressured him to
marry another wife but he didn’t. He loves very much. And now that we’re
blessed with a child Baba Luku has done this that my child to should be stolen.
Baba Luku o! Baba Luku o!” Baby’s mother wailed.

Similoluwa
came home. She dropped the sac and her bag by the door and rushed into her
room. She opened her wardrobe and began to search. She removed each cloth and
searched pockets of all that have pockets. “No, it can’t be inside the
wardrobe.” Simi moved to a corner where a big bag was settled. She opened the
bag and began to take out all the books therein. She opened the books one by
one perhaps something was inside any of them. “Where did I put this thing?”

Prophetess
Tejuola came down from upstairs and saw a sac by the door. She walked to it.
Similoluwa had come back. “What happened in the market? She didn’t buy my
plantain, she didn’t but stuffs. Only meat? Or she’s in the kitchen? Is she
even inside this house? Simi o!”

Simi
came to the sitting room and began to check everywhere. She didn’t respond to Prophetess
Teju’s questions. “Did anyone fight you? Did you misplace something? You lost
the money you took to the market?”

“I
know where I forgot my wallet.”

“Then
what are you looking for?

“Where
is Aaron? Where is he? I need to know.”

The
Prophetess looked at Simi’s eyes. Simi looked like she might cry. She ran
upstairs to continue her search. And the Prophetess followed her. “Wait, Becky
told me that Aaron is fine.”

“You’re
hiding something from me.”

Prophetess
Tejuola reasoned within her if it would be good to let Simi know that Aaron was
missing and might be in danger. And she knew it would be difficult to lie to
Simi concerning Aaron’s situation. “This girl knows something is wrong.If I lose her I might lose my son.”
Prophetess Tejuola called Similoluwa to the sitting room down stairs and
promised to tell her the truth. She told her what Becky had said about Aaron’s
situation. “My Aaron? My Aaron is missing?” Simi asked. Prophetess Teju only
nodded. “My Aaron may not remember me?”

“Yes,
your Aaron may not.”

Similoluwa
saw her bag. She quickly moved to the door side and carried it. She wanted to
search again. “It’s not inside your bag,” said Tejuola.

“What
do you think I’m looking for?”

“I
know it. It’s not inside this house.”

“You
… found it? And you hid it? No? You burnt it? Or you threw it away?”

“This
is a Christian family. Hoodoo is not allowed in this house.”

Simi
slowly sat on the floor. Tears rolled down her cheek. Prophetess Tejuola moved
closer and also slowly sat on the floor beside Simi. The prophetess cuddled
Simi and begged her for forgiveness. “It’s for the good of all of us. We cannot
serve God and Mammon.”

“It’s
for the good of your pride. You’re a prophetess! Do you know why I keep that
gourd? Do you know what’s inside it? It’s all for Aaron’s sake –to keep him
safe and to make him prosper.”

“It
is for the same reasons that I’ve thrown it away –to keep him safe and to make
him prosper.”

“Hmmm,
that means I am a threat to him. You’re saying that what I kept and what I did
to help him only endangered his life? So, I was trying to thwart his
prosperity?”

“No,
but he’s a Christian. And it is better …”

Simi
suddenly rose up and rushed into her room. She locked the room to prevent
Prophetess Teju from entering. After some minutes, she came out with a small
bag. “Thank you for everything you have done for me since my parent’s death. You
will be rewarded. You’ve only tolerated me you haven’t loved me. If you’ve
loved me you’d have respected me or at least not thrown away my thing without
telling me.”

“Hey!
I made that choice for love. I love you. Mogbe! Simi! Another trouble. Please
don’t go so that we can look for him together. And you have nowhere to go do
you?”

“No
I don’t have nowhere to go and that’s why I can go anywhere. How dare you think
of me as a helpless orphan and treated me as such?”

Though
Prophetess Tejuola pleaded that Simi should not leave Similoluwa still left the
house with annoyance. And the Prophetess began to cry. “I had hoped that if
Simi is with me and see her safe, Aaron will be safe. He will come back to me.
How will I now be sure?”